Cross-posted to blog.Mises:

In "How I Stole a Great Idea From Lew Rockwell" Gary North writes:

The Mises Institute in 1996 produced a superb 45-minute movie on the Federal Reserve System. It is the best introduction to what the FED really is and how it operates that I have ever seen. Yet I never saw the movie on a movie screen or a TV screen. I didn't even know it existed. I came across it through a search on Google Video. Here is the link.

This is a first-class documentary. Yet the Mises Institute never got much mileage from it. Then it posted the movie on Google's video site. The result? Over 100,000 people have at least begun viewing it.

The ones who finished viewing it have a better understanding of monetary theory, monetary history, and the Federal Reserve System than 90% of Congress. (OK, maybe 95%.)

What did it cost the Mises Institute to post this video? The time of one technician. What does it cost the Mises Institute for bandwidth? Nothing. Google pays for this. In short, once the video was on-line, Mises became a free rider on Google's nickel.

This kind of innovative marketing of libertarian ideas — pre-YouTube — is a good reason to send the Mises Institute a tax-deductible nickel. Maybe more. Do it here.